Drunken Valentine
by NCISgirl1527
Summary: Neither Aiden nor Stella are particularly fond of Valentine's Day so they plan to spend it having some quality girl time, which will involve alcohol. However the make some discoveries that may just change how they see the day. Smacked/DNA


_**Well…I know that this is a little late, but it is still officially Valentine's Day for nine more minutes…Anyway…I thought the opening scene would be an amusing way to start a story and the rest of it just kind of developed on it's own. I rather like the way it came out and hope that you do too. Please and enjoy.**_

_**Disclaimer: I own no one.**_

_**Spoilers: None.**_

_**Warning: There is a certain amount of swearing and certain amount of alcohol consumption.**_

"Does Valentine's Day ever give you the urge to get incredibly drunk?"

"Yes," Stella replied without a moment's hesitation or even looking up. Of course there was no secret to who she was talking to. There was only one person in the lab, who had a strong New York accent and an equally strong dislike of Valentine's Day.

"Well…" Aiden asked watching Stella kneed her forehead with the palms of her hands.

"Yes," Stella replied sounding very relieved by the concept of a respite from what had been an incredibly long day, "when?"

"Whenever," Aiden replied with a shrug that Stella could not see.

"Now?" Stella asked finally lifting her head to look at Aiden, who was standing in the doorway with her jacket folded over her arm.

"Sure," Aiden replied with another shrug.

"I knew I hired you for a reason," Stella told her friend with a smile, and Aiden laughed.

-0- -0- -0-

"Cop bar or a night club?" Stella asked as they pulled out of the lab parking lot in Aiden's Mini-cooper.

"I am a firm believer that if you are going to get spectacularly drunk, it should be done properly," Aiden replied with a wink.

"Night club it is," Stella replied with a laugh, "I assume you know a good one."

"I'm going to pretend you didn't ask that," Aiden told her friend as she pulled her car into traffic. Stella smiled. She should have known the younger woman would know exactly where to go. Within minutes they had reached their destination.

"Are we dressed appropriately?" Stella asked hesitantly.

"We are about to consume enough alcohol that it won't matter," Aiden pointed out, "and it isn't really that high scale of a place. It is more of a local hangout."

"Brilliant," Stella replied as the two women got out of the car and walked towards the door. This was going to be fun.

-0- -0- -0-

"Man absolutely suck," Aiden declared sitting down at the booth across from Stella, and almost but not quite tripping over her own feet in the process.

"Many of them do," Stella replied, "What is your current evidence?"

"Where to start?" Aiden asked taking a sip of what was either her third or fourth beer.

"How about with that blonde guy who keeps checking you out?" Stella suggested, "I thought you went to dance with him."

"I did," Aiden replied with a grimace, "he's only interested because he knows we're cops. He's a journalist for some hot shot paper and wants the inside scoop on the Williamson Case."

"What did you tell him?" Stella asked, sober enough to register that if any information about the case had been revealed to the media, she would need to run damage control.

"I told him to go to hell," Aiden replied taking another swig of her drink.

"But nothing about the case," Stella repeated trying to confirm that no damage had been done.

"I'm not that drunk," Aiden replied a little defensively.

"Fair enough," Stella told her holding her hands up in a gesture of surrender. There was a pause while Stella stared pensively into her drink, and Aiden watched the room around them. "Why are we sitting here on Valentine's Day alone and only moderately drunk?"

"Are you objecting to the lack of company or the lack of alcohol?" Aiden asked raising an eyebrow at her friend?

"Umm…" Stella said considering the question for a moment, "Mostly the first one because we the second one is rather easily fixable isn't it?"

"Yep," Aiden replied waving her hand towards one of the waitresses who immediately brought over two more bottles of beer. "That said we are here because men are idiots."

"Danny totally forgot that today was Valentine's Day didn't he?" Stella asked, fairly certain that the answer was yes, and she made a mental note to talk to her young CSI about how Valentine's Day should be regarded by men even if the women in question thought of it as idiotic. After all, Stella would guess that ninety percent of the women who thought Valentine's Day was for idiots thought that because someone had somehow hurt them on that day, and they chose to deal with that by ridiculing the day. They had had their hopes crushed once so now they refused to dream openly; however deep inside they still cherished the idea that someone might remember them on what was a rather special day for most.

"Yea," Aiden replied with a slow nod, "But what else is new. It isn't like he is really supposed to remember. He isn't dating anybody. I mean we have a relationship like you and Mac have. We are so close that we are practically like a married couple, but he doesn't realize that maybe I want something more, and I can't do anything because I don't know if he wants something more. After all, if I move and he isn't ready I could ruin our friendship." Aiden paused and gave her friend a slightly distressed look. "I try to give him hints, but I have done everything I can think of short of leaving a brick with a message written on it in the middle of his desk."

"I know," Stella replied exasperatedly, "Of course if I put a brick on Mac's desk it would just get buried under paperwork." On a sort of superficial level, she was impressed that Aiden, even given the amount of alcohol she had consumed, had managed her entire monologue without stumbling over any of the words. On a deeper and more important level, Stella knew that it would not have mattered if Aiden had slurred her words because it was the point that mattered.

It was a point that cut deep and suddenly Stella realized something. Nothing was going to change if she and Aiden continued to lament their situation. Sometimes if you want something, then you have to put a little risk into the process of getting it.

"Screw this," Stella said suddenly pulling out her phone, "Subtle didn't work so let's give blatantly obvious a shot." Aiden watched in shock as Stella dialed a number on her phone and put it to her ear. "Hey Danny," Stella said with no preamble or hesitation, "It's Valentine's Day. Aiden is at the bar with the neon tiger sign out front three blocks from the office. Come pick her up." With that Stella slammed the phone shut and smiled.

"Well," Aiden said slightly awestruck, "That is one way to do it."

-0- -0- -0-

Barely fifteen minutes later, the door opened that Danny walked into the bar, followed by Mac. Aiden grinned and Stella's jaw dropped. The two men walked over to stand next to the booth where the girls were sitting.

"You came," Aiden said looking up at Danny.

"Stella didn't really make it sound like a multiple choice question," Danny pointed out, but as Aiden's eyes narrowed he quickly added, "but I would have come anyway." Aiden smiled at that. "What do you say we go someplace else?" he asked her holding out his hand for her to take.

"Okay," Aiden replied grinning widely allowing Danny to help her up from her seat and lead her across the room and out the door. Just before the two vanished from sight, Aiden turned and waved at Stella.

"She is so drunk," Stella commented to Mac.

"So are you," he replied.

"True," she conceded with a nod of her head, "but no that drunk." Both of them smiled at that.

"What would you say to me taking you out to dinner someplace with," Mac looked around searching for the word or phrase he needed.

"Real food," Stella supplied standing up from the booth and swaying a little.

"Like that," Mac told her catching her around the waist. Stella smiled up at him.

Maybe Valentine's Day was not a complete waste of time after all.

_**So what did you think? Again I liked it more than I though I would…it might help that it is easier to write drunk characters because more stuff is within the range of plausibility…it is also extremely fun…Anyway…I hope you had a good Valentine's Day…please review.**_


End file.
